Edward C. Raymer - Descent Into Darkness: Pearl Harbor, 1941a Navy Divers Memoir

Descent into Darkness

The author in late 1944 at the experimental diving unit, Washington, D. C.

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

1996 by Edward C. Raymer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First Naval Institute Press paperback edition published 2012.

ISBN 978-1-61251-102-3

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Raymer, Edward C.

Descent into darkness : Pearl Harbor, 1941: a Navy divers memoir / Edward C. Raymer.

p. cm

1. Raymer, Edward C. 2. Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941Personal narratives, American. 3. United States. NavyBiography.

4. SailorsUnited StatesBiography. 5. DiversUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.

D767.92.R37 1996

940.5426dc20

Photos from authors collection unless otherwise noted.

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992

(Permanence of Paper).

First printing

To Marilyn:

A woman of lasting beauty, a confidant and supporter,
a wise counselor and critic, a loving mother,
a perfect wife

Contents

Looking back over the last five years, I realize that the writing of this book was a collective effort.

Grateful acknowledgment is tendered to historian Eric M. Hammel for strongly encouraging me to pursue this book; to author Hank Searls for his many helpful suggestions to improve my writing skills; to Sara Trotta for her encouragement and help in editing; to my sons: Christopher for his many valuable suggestions; to Marshall and Terry for pushing me to finishing my memoir; and last but not least, to my wife for her understanding and encouragement during the dark days when I wanted to chuck it all.

Without all these people this book probably would never have been written.

Descent into Darkness is a salvage divers memoir of the raising of the sunken battleships after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The book is also a history of the salvage work performed by the USS Seminole in the South Pacific theater of war.

Navy divers and Pacific Bridge civilian divers formed one leg of a salvage triad, salvage engineers and the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard comprised the other two. One leg needed the assistance and support of the other two to be effective.

Once divers entered the interiors of sunken battleships, they experienced a world of total blackness, unable to see the faceplates in their helmets, a scant two inches from their noses. The abundance of sediment, oil, and other pollutants inside the ships rendered diving lamps useless, since the beams of light reflected into the divers eyes, blinding them.

Navy divers using only a sense of feel groped their way hundreds of feet inside the ships to their work assignments. They developed a superior sense of touch, much as blind persons do. They also experienced an eerie phenomenon in the underwater wrecks. They could sense the presence of floating human bodies long before they felt them.

Divers also learned to cope with unseen dangers in the blackness, such as falling machinery, sharp, torn metal, jagged holes in the deck, and other hazards. Upon reaching their underwater work sites they used all types of tools to perform a multitude of tasks.

Because of the nature of these underwater conditions, the divers worked by themselves, unattended and unsupervised. Much of their work went unappreciated until months later when the ships were dry-docked, and their efforts could be seen in the light of day.

By reading this book you will see what it was like exploring and working inside the USS Arizona and the other sunken ships. You will learn how repairs were made to the ships and how these versatile divers modified and adapted tools and equipment to enable them to perform a host of difficult salvage jobs.

I have tried to recapture the flavor of wartime Honolulu and Pearl Harbor by giving the reader a glimpse of how the divers lived and played in our off-duty hours.

The base at Pearl Harbor and the city of Honolulu in 1942 bear no resemblance to the present-day sites. Enlisted men disgustedly called Oahu the Rock, after its namesake, Alcatraz prison, in San Francisco Bay. Pearl Harbor offered no rest and recreation areas. The few baseball diamonds built on the base before the war became storage areas for war materials, or were converted to encampments for armed troops. Swimming pools belonged to the officers. Most beaches were ringed with barbed wire. Nightly movies at the outdoor theaters were closed because of the blackout conditions in effect. Not even Bob Hope and his USO troupe had started their Pacific tours. After we worked a fourteen hour day we were usually too tired to do anything except shower and climb into the sack. Most of us were at the height of our virility, so girls were always foremost on our minds. But the type of girls we had grown up with and dated in our hometowns was not available on the Rock. We could close our eyes and dream about them, but that was the extent of our relationship. Most enlisted men satisfied their desires by visiting one of the many houses of ill repute in downtown Honolulu. Others of us hoped to establish a more lasting liaison if somehow fate would intercede on our behalf. There were precious few available women on the island at the time but fate did in fact intervene for a favored few of us. I have changed the names of a few of the participants in order to save them possible embarrassment. But all of the anecdotes and the divers exploits while at work and at play are true accounts. The stories of casualties to salvage personnel are also factual, despite their omission by the writers of history.

Many of the divers conversations in the book are paraphrasic in nature because I had to rely on my memory and the personal reminiscences of a few surviving members of our old diving crew. I believe the dialogue reflects the language the actual characters would have used under the circumstances. But most importantly, the dialogue portrays their personalities accurately.

Unfortunately, during those early days of the war, no pictures were taken of the divers, to my knowledge. The salvage of the battleships was a classified subject, so no personal cameras were permitted in or around Pearl Harbor. There were some official navy photographs taken of the condition of the raised ships, but none showing the divers at work. Much later there were pictures taken of divers, but it was after our original crew departed Pearl Harbor.

Some divers marched to different drummers, but all of us were united by two common bonds: love of country and a desire to serve our nation.

Edward C. Raymer

Commander, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

PEARL HARBOR, TERRITORY OF HAWAII

In solemn stillness, the USS Arizona lay at peace. Jarred by massive explosions and gutted by fire, the battleship had slipped beneath the waves of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Only the mast and part of her superstructure remained visible. But she was not abandoned, for she served as an underwater tomb for more than one thousand American sailors and marines.